Tharissa Sharran
by Jack Hawthorne
Summary: The prologue of my SWtOR character Tharissa Sharran; her role during the sacking and the ten years between it and the game. Rated T for personal paranoia.


Good Mornin' folks! *tips fedora*

It's quite a long time since I uploaded anything here xD  
My creative bone has broken it seems. Though, I do write stuff now and then; I just never manage to finish it.  
This here, though, seems to be one of the few I'll finish.

This is the prologue of a character of mine, Tharissa Sharran, which I will use in the upcoming MMORPG SWtOR (Star Wars the Old Republic).  
It'll most likely be in three parts ^^

Hope you will enjoy it =D

* * *

*YaaaaAAAAAaaaaawn*

The massive yawn was the only sound in the tiny room.  
Tharissa Sharran, Jedi Padawan, had just awoken. Late as usual; she liked to sleep a lot. She usually circumvented the problem this caused by trading duties with the other padawans so that she could sleep late. There were plenty of padawans out there that wanted to get up early instead.

Sitting up, Tharissa looked straight into a mirror on the other side of the room. Sometimes, she got somewhat annoyed at it; it always showed her worst side when she woke up. Though, it did sometimes help her check how much she needed to shower. And occasionally figure out if she were wearing clothes. She could be a bit distracted at times.

Deciding that she really needed a shower today, she jumped out of her small bed, before making her way carefully through the cluttered room towards the showers. On the way, she picked up a clean pair of robes and pants. Atleast she thought they were clean. A few oilstains didn't count anyway.

For her, that was actually true; all of her clothes would eventually get oilstains. Even articles like her bra managed this; the Force only knew how that happened.

She also took with her the twin blades she always wore; she NEVER left them. Ever. She had even waterproofed them, after an unfortunate incident a year ago involving a water-planet, a giant squid, and a very slippery type of algae. Tharissa blushed slightly from that memory, before setting the shower to "cold" to cool down.

She quickly soaped up and scrubbed down, before shampooing her brown hair; she usually never really bothered using a lot of time in the shower. Almost none of the jedi did that, except the aquatic species, but that was understandable.  
As she dried her hair, she didn't even bother to try to make it lie flat; she'd never manage it anyway. She sometimes pondered how civilian girls managed to keep their hair in such sometimes ridiculous styles; it must require a great deal of time and effort to do that, she though. She had never really considered doing it herself though; if she grew it out, all that hair would easily get in her eyes and obstruct her view in battle, and she couldn't have any of that. She usually just did the "bedhead-look" as the civilians called it. Except that where they could use hours on getting the right look, she simply didn't bother doing anything with it after showering, giving her the most genuine look of them all. However, there was one part of her hair that she took great care with; her padawan-braid, which was neatly braided and stuffed behind her right ear.

"Master, are you done yet? You've used 32 seconds more than usual," a digitalized female voice came through the door.  
"Yeah K8, I'm done now. I just decided to throw some clothes in the washing bin," she replied, slipping into her simple clothes.  
The aforementioned simple clothes were pretty much exactly the same as most other padawans wore; a pair of gray pants, covered by short brown padawan robes, held together by a sturdy belt with various hooks and pouches. She had added a few pockets of her own though; there were way too few for a mechanic on the normal robes.  
"Oh really?" K8 the droid said, before taking a peek into the bathroom. "An entire bin! Oh my, Master, are you sick or something? You! Washing clothes! I think I'll have to contact a medical droid immediately…"  
"Oh, shut up you. I do wash my clothes! ….now and then…."  
She really did wash her clothes now and then; usually when she couldn't find any more clean ones, she'd just gather them all up and take a trip to the laundry room of the Temple.

"If Master insists…" K8 said, following up with a mechanic sound that passed for chuckling.  
"Master has advanced saber training in 45 minutes," K8 suddenly said. "I suggest you hurry if you want to have time for breakfast today."  
Tharissa just sighed. She really had to reprogram that droid to stop being so sarcastic all the time.

However, she did have a point. Clipping her sabers to her belt and slipping into the soft boots common amongst Jedi, Tharissa walked out of her room, not bothering to lock it behind her. This was the Jedi Temple after all; nobody was stupid enough to try to steal anything. Not that most Jedi had anything much valuable to steal anyway, except their sabers.  
Usually, she would train together with her master, Master Kerron, but he was on a mission for the council, so she attended training meant for padawans who couldn't train with their master right then. Just like herself.

On her way to the mess hall, she suddenly ran into a zabrak jedi coming from another dorm wing.  
"Ah, hey there Tharissa!" the zabrak called, getting her attention. "You going for breakfast?"  
"Mornin' Kir! Yeah, breakfast now, then saber training. You?" she replied, falling into step beside him as they continued towards the mess hall.  
"The council has called me; I think they're gonna give me my first off-world mission as a knight!" Kir the zabrak replied excitedly; he had gone through his knighting ceremony last week, and was anxious to have something to do, except training younglings.  
"Heh, they probably will. Just leave a few missions for me!" Tharissa joked back, punching him lightly on the arm.  
"Hahah, will do," the robed zabrak replied as they entered the mess hall.

Breakfast passed quickly between the old friends as they both devoured a light but very nutritious meal, passing jokes and banter between eachother.  
Finishing up the meal, they went in opposite directions; Kir was going for one of the towers, while Tharissa went deeper into the temple, to one of the large training rooms.

"Hello there Tharissa! You're just on time," her teacher, Master Nerr, a rodian, said.  
"Mornin' Master!" Tharissa answered, before going to her usual spot, facing one of the other students, a large and brawny duros.  
"Hey there Tharissa. Ready for training?" the duros asked. However, instead of taking out his single saber, he instead sat down cross legged.  
"Yeah Lee'. Ready to get beaten again?" Tharissa laughed, then sat down cross legged too; meditating before the training was common. The duros, whose full name was Lee'jahay, just chuckled. Everyone in the room was expert fighters; they were in the most advanced sabertraining class held after all. But everyone knew that Tharissa was highly likely the best of them. That didn't stop them from trying to beat her though, and both her and the rest of the class thrived on this competition.

As they meditated, Tharissa absentmindedly reached out with the force; she felt herself, the life-energy throbbing beneath her skin. She felt her saber-crystals; perfectly in tune with herself, the sabers they were fitted in feeling like an extensions of her arms, a part of her. She felt Lee', sitting just as calm a meter ahead of her; she could vaguely feel his mind, reaching out as she was. She felt the other students, unevenly spread out thorough the room, and she could feel Master Nerr, who were walking in between them, handing out saber-inhibitors, which were made to temporarily decrease a lightsabers power, so that they could be used in training. Further out, she could feel the life-energy of the temple, and of the city; the countless lives milling about on their usual business.

Slowly coming out of the meditation, Tharissa allowed herself a smile at herself; it wasn't often she managed to reach that far out with her mind. But, it wasn't the time to think about that. Lee' had already fitted the inhibitors on his saber, and was patiently waiting for her.

Tharissa quickly scooped up the two inhibitors lying infront of her, and quickly fitted them onto her sabers. She liked these thingies; they allowed her to train with her actual sabers, instead of some mass-produced training sabers. She was perfectly capable of fighting with them, but it always felt more right to use her own. She knew that many Jedi, especially the more martially inclined, felt the same.

"You ready?" Lee' said, adjusting his position infront of her.  
"Yeah. Sorry about that; was lost in my own thoughts."  
"No problems; we all do now and then," he replied. He was right too; Jedi had a tendency of loosing themselves in thought and meditation now and then.

Tharissa smiled back at him, before positioning herself right infront of him. They both put their hands on their thighs, then bowed at the waist to their opponent.

Lee' instantly took a step backwards with his left foot, and brought his deep blue blade up horizontally infront of his face in a defensive stance.  
Tharissa, however, had been quicker; she had already activated her brilliantly green sabers, and had stepped forward, opening with a powerful overhand swing with both sabers. Lee' was lucky he had chosen that pose, as both sabers were blocked by his own.  
They were now fighting eachother for dominion in their bladelock; luckily for him, Lee' had the advantage. He was both physically stronger than Tharissa, but he was also using just one saber; she had to divert her strength to two sabers, while he could concentrate on one.  
Slowly but surely, he forced her arms backwards, almost breaking the bladelock. She, however, had other plans. She suddenly broke the lock, then sidestepped and spun, rapidly bringing her sabers around to strike at Lee's unprotected back as he staggered forward when the counterpressure suddenly disappeared. The Force warned him though, and he managed to get his saber up and behind himself to block the strike. He quickly regained his balance, and turned around just in time to block yet another quick strike from Tharissa, this one from just a single saber.

Tharissa struck again and again, trying to unbalance her opponent. Her quick and agile strikes made it very hard for the slower single-saber to block and deflect, and she got in a few glancing blows. None of them would have been lethal though, so the fight continued.

Spotting an opening, Lee' slashed out with his saber in a wide and powerful horizontal swing; aiming to hit her head. Already the moment he started the movement, he knew it was a mistake; she had set him up for this. Tharissa dropped down in a crouch, and swept her sabers, intending on a Mou Kei maneuver that would have severed his legs if it was a real battle. Lee', however, saw it coming and instantly leapt upwards, spinning forward to incorporate an Ataru move into his usual Soresu style.

However, Ataru was Tharissas speciality; the instant she knew what Lee' was thinking, she leapt forward, then spun around to face him as he landed. Again, they were facing eachother, both on guard.  
Tharissa was the first to move; surging forward, she feinted to the left, before attempting to stab Lee' with her right saber. He blocked, and then swung his saber at Tharissas head again, trying a horizontal slash. She brought both her sabers up to block it, and again they found themselves in a bladelock. Briefly fighting for dominance, it seemed like it would go the same way as the previous one, and Tharissa readied herself to attempt a different move, to throw Lee' off his guard.  
However, this time he was quicker; thrusting his hands forward, his lightsaber hilt brutally connected to Tharissas face, sending her flying backwards. She landed on her back, and instantly rolled backwards, getting up in a fighting stance before Lee' could follow up with anything.  
"Hah, nice move!" Tharissa commented, mentally noting down that she'd have to use that one herself sometime.  
"Thank you," Lee' calmly answered, before going on the offensive. Thrusting forward with a stab, he kept his distance, knowing that his longer arms would give him an advantage in reach. She, however, didn't want it like that. Rapidly dodging the first stab, Tharissa surged forward, spinning to the right, seemingly in an attempt of a mock Sai Tok. However, to Lee's surprise, she never connected with his blade, which was already in place to block it; she had feinted that spinning attack, and instead had force-jumped straight over him. Lee' knew he had lost even before Tharissas lightsabers connected with his exposed back in a backwards stabbing motion.

Both combatants turned around, yet again facing eachother, panting slightly. Bowing to eachother, they smiled contently at the battle. Only then did they notice they were the last pair to finish the first round, and that all the others had gathered to watch.  
"Excellent battle, Tharissa, Lee'! I dare say you are some of the best fighters of this generation of padawans! " Master Nerr said enthusiastically, who had watched the battle from the start.  
Blushing slightly of the praise, Tharissa gave a small bow to her and mumbled forth some thanks.  
Lee' too bowed, and thanked. "I don't think I am that good; she did beat me, after all," he said, meaning it.  
"Even the best fighter can be defeated; the fact that you held your own so long against her is testament to your skill," Nerr said, proud of her students.

The rest of the lesson passed quickly; five more battle, three of which Tharissa won, and two which Lee' won, both of which he used his superior skill in the Force to throw objects at her. In one case, he forgot to check what he was throwing, and ended up throwing another student, a small Lannik.  
When the last battle had ended, they sat down again, panting heavily now, to meditate and calm down. It didn't take long; they had done this every day for most of their lives, after all.

"I'll be leaving for the youngling lessons then!" Tharissa said cheerfully to Master Nerr as she prepared to leave the class. Tharissa had been put to work to teach the newest generation of younglings some basic saber techniques, and she had attacked the task with gusto. The younglings liked her as a teacher too; she had a tendency of loosing herself when demonstrating techniques, showing much more complicated stuff than what they'd actually learn. This whet the appetites of the young ones, making them work even harder to be able to imitate what "Master Sharran" could do.

As she walked towards the youngling training chambers, she was joined by K8, who were to report a message left by Kir. Her friends voice crackled forth as the audio-message played.  
"I got the mission! I am to travel to a planet in the outer rim, to search for a rumoured crystal cave. I don't have time to meet you personally before I leave, so I'm leaving this message with your droid, which I found flying around. I think it was spying at some of the female padawans in the showers.  
Anyway, goodbye, and see you later!"  
K8 was a droid which Tharissa had built when she was rather young, demonstrating her skill with mechanics and electronics. However, the AI she had used had corrupted over time, giving K8 a rather sarcastic personality. K8 also had a habit of spying on the female padawans, then presenting the videoclips to Tharissa in the belief that she'd enjoy it. Needless to say, this had caused quite some stir with the padawans involved, who had demanded the droid mindwiped. Tharissa had refused, but had tried to alter K8's personality. It didn't work out, so she had reverted the droids AI to pre-"fix" state, but had explicitly forbidden her to spy on anything, unless ordered. She had often suspected the droid didn't listen to her, and this was proof of this.  
"… You're spying again…?" Tharissa said, slightly disappointed.  
"No Master, of course not! I would never go against what you said. I was simply searching for a rat I saw fleeing into the ventilation shaft."  
Tharissa scowled, and mentally noted that she'd have to examine K8's memory banks later.

Tharissa arrived quickly at her destination. The training room was pretty much identical to the one she had just exited; large and spacious, with no furniture, except benches by the walls. The floor were covered by tatami mats, except the edges, who were exposed, showing the floor underneath. Inside, 25 younglings, aged around age 6 to 10 sat and talked, played, and similar, waiting for Tharissa.  
At the sight of her, every single one of them instantly got up and bowed to her with a resounding "Good morning Master Sharran!"  
Tharissa chuckled; she had told them countless times to not call her Master, since she was still just a padawan, but the kids didn't want to listen to that, so she had eventually given up.  
"Hello younglings!" she cheerily replied instead, bowing slightly back. "You ready for your lessons?" she asked, prepared for the resounding cries of "Yeah!" that came back.  
"Do you all have your training sabers then?" Tharissa asked, checking that her own sabers still had the inhibitors. The kids had received training saber a month earlier, and weren't quite used to lugging them around yet, so there were usually some that forgot theirs. Today, however, everyone had remembered theirs.  
"Let's start then!" Tharissa said, before pairing the kids up. Since there were 25 students, there was always one left out. To avoid that problem, one was always paired up with herself, and she switched who got to this each lesson. Today, it was a young 9 year old twi'lik named Tanitas turn.  
Tanita wasn't the most skilled in saber techniques; she told her that she didn't like to hurt people. Tharissa had recalled that Kir, who had helped train her force-techniques, had said she had shown great skill in healing, and the other teachers too though she'd be a healer one day. She had also showed signs of being a good leader; for this reasons, she had been signed up for officers training by her negotiations teacher.  
She still trained hard to master the lightsaber though; Tharissa had told her that Jedi ideally would never actually hurt anyone, but sometimes they'd have to, to protect others.

The training session proceeded mostly as usual. The kids all activated their identical training sabers, before starting to practice the basic contact zones which Tharissa instructed them in.

"Alright kids, let's try something new. This move is called the Sun Djem, and is designed to take your opponents weapon away from him or her, without actually harming them," Tharissa said, slowly demonstrating the move on Tanita. Tharissa briefly noted Tanitas bright expression at the prospect of learning something that wouldn't hurt your opponent.  
"This move is very difficult, because if you don't do it correctly, you risk performing a Chu Sun, taking his arm, instead. Now, everyone, carefully do as I…"  
Suddenly, an earsplitting crash was heard, and Tharissa stopped her move.  
"What was that?"  
The sound seemed to originate from the main entrance… but there was nothing there that should be able to make that sound. Suddenly, another sound; the crackling of the Temples intercom system.  
"Attention all Jedi; The Temple is under attack by an unknown number of Sith. I repeat, the Temple is under attack by an unknown number of Sith. All Jedi currently instructing younglings or padawans are to escort these to safety in sector 4. All other jedi are to report to the combat at the main entrance immediately."  
The message continued to play, looping endlessly, sounding eerie due to the echoing effect created by multiple com-units playing the same message. The kids all looked at eachother, clearly nervous.  
"Kids! Everyone, shut down your sabers. Do not under any circumstance activate it; it could make them notice you," Tharissa said, taking the lead. She instantly removed the inhibitors around her own sabers, before taking point on the group as they walked out into the hallway.  
Sector 4 of the temple was on the opposite end of the main entrance, and to get there, they would have to pass through the main hallway. Tharissa hoped the Temple defenders would manage to contain the Sith there.  
"Why are the Sith attacking the temple...? And more importnantly... how?" Tharissa mumbled to herself.  
As they walked, even more alarms started to sound, and they saw tens of Jedi running supernaturally fast past them. Tharissa wanted to join them, but she knew she'd have to get the younglings to safety first, so she didn't.  
As they passed the doorway to the main hallway, she could see what had created the crashing sound; the Sith had literally crashed a republic transport through the front doors. A good 20 or more Sith were fighting the Jedi, and Tharissa realized that they were winning.  
"Lets hurry up!" she told the kids, making them go faster, but still in an orderly group. Chaos wouldn't help them here.

"Hurry up… where…?" a gravelly voice suddenly said behind them. Tharissa slowly turned around. Facing her was a large man, clad in black. Only his head and arms were visible; everything else was covered by light black cloth and plates of armor. His skin was dark, covered in nightblack tattoos, and his teeth seemed to be filed to sharp points as he gave a chilling smile at the retreating group. In his hand, which Tharissa calculatingly noted seemed to be very strong, he held a lightsaber. A red lightsaber.  
"Kids, continue walking. Tanita, you take point; go to sector 4," Tharissa calmly said, positioning herself in between the Sith and the younglings, activating her sabers.  
"Nhahahah…" the Sith chuckled. "The typical jedi sacrifice, eh? What do you think you'll achieve with that? We will win. Join us; you're worthy of more than these Jedi scum."  
Tharissa almost deactivated her sabers at his words. They sounded so true, so right. However, at the last moment, she realized that the Sith was trying to manipulate her mind, and she promptly tried blocking him off with a meditation technique designed for exactly that.  
When his smile faltered a moment, she knew she had succeeded, and settled into a defensive stance. By now, the younglings had gotten much further down the hall, marching determinedly away, without looking back.

Grinning, the Sith spoke again; "I am Darth Ag'ahanay, Sith lord, personally chosen by Lord Malgus for this mission. How do you think you'll protect them? When I have dispatched you, they'll be next."  
Raising his left hand, the Sith called upon the Dark Side of the Force. The air seemed to chill around him, and a large piece of a column broke loose to hover beside him. He flicked a finger, and the stone shot towards the younglings in the distance.  
Tharissa knew she couldn't match him in force power, so she did the only thing she could do in this situation; she charged. She leapt forward, using the Force to speed her jump, and as she landed she struck out with a wide slash aimed at the siths stomach. The Sith was momentarily caught off guard; he hadn't expected her to engage him in melee, but rather to have a duel of Force. As the attack broke his concentration, the block fell to the floor in the distance, screeching to a halt, but not hitting any of the younglings. However, he managed to get his saber up to deflect the blow and jumped backwards to gain some range, and time, to collect his wits.  
Tharissa, however, knew she wouldn't last long in a fight against a Sith master, and pressed the advantage. She had to keep him off guard, off balance, had to keep two steps ahead of him at all times. She stepped after him, launching a furious rain of light but rapid blows. For the slower single saber fighter it was difficult to block them all; but his armour deflected most of the others, and the few that got through that, or hit his arms, only left minor burns and scratches, because they were so light.  
Suddenly, without warning, Tharissa spun down low and to the right, slamming her right saber against his leg, keeping her left above her to cover for an eventual counter. The Force warned Ag'ahanay of this however, and he Pushed her backwards before the blow connected, finally gaining a breathing room.  
"Ohoho! A feisty one, aren't we?" he laughed, panting slightly. The previous two Jedis he had killed hadn't been nearly this fun. This time, he was the one to charge, opening with a measured, but powerful, slash to the left; he couldn't afford using an overhand strike, as this would leave him open to a slash-and-dodge maneuver from the Jedi.

As predicted, the silent Jedi dodged the blow by jumping backwards instead of blocking it. Quicker than anticipated, she bounced back in the wake of the blow, trying to stab him; this time, he was the one to jump back.  
Darth Ag'ahanay started chuckling. This looked like it would be really fun!  
Catching Tharissa by surprise, he suddenly Force pushed her backwards, while simultaneously dragging her feet towards him. She fell hard on her back, and he ran up towards her, then jumped, coming down with a powerful stabbing move. Tharissa rolled to the side, getting to her feet, then sprang up, slicing upwards as she disappeared three meters behind him. Ag'ahanay nearly managed to avoid this, but he felt a sting of pain as the sabers bit into his left leg slightly. He quickly got up from his crouch and into a defensive stance. He silently cursed himself for doing that; he should've known she'd do that. Both the combatants slowly circled eachother, measuring the other with a new understanding.  
"Hehehe… Not only are you feisty, but you're skilled too! You should have been born a Sith; you would have been much better trained than what these pacifist Jedi can do," the Sith said, grinning with his pointed teeth at her.  
"I don't need better training; and in any case, I don't want to be trained by Sith," the Jedi calmly replied.  
"What is your name, young one? I want to know who I'm killing. I'm writing it down, you see, making a list of all the Jedi I have killed. So far, there are five names there, with two more that must be added after I get home. And you, of course."  
"My name is Tharissa Sharran, Jedi Padawan," Tharissa replied. It couldn't hurt to tell him her name; reinforcements must be on their way by now. She risked a quick look towards the hallway, and spotted Lee' fighting a small and nimble Sith using a double-bladed saber.  
She didn't linger long though, and focused her eyes on Darth Ag'ahanay again. He hadn't utilized the slight opening in her defences. He figured he wouldn't need to; she'd break soon enough, just like the two others.

The Sith lord brought his unarmed hand up again, deliberately showing that he was about to Force Push her. The moment he did, Tharissa did the same, trying to match his strength. It was no use; most of his power got through her weak counter, and she had to step backwards to avoid falling. She quickly figured that she'd be utterly devastated if she allowed him to goad her into a duel of Force, and as such, she decided she had to drag him into the melee again.  
She quickly threw herself forward, simultaneously throwing her left saber at him, and adjusting her grip on the right to accommodate for a twohanded style.  
Her first blow was a powerful twohanded overhand strike, designed more to draw his attention than to actually hurt him. It worked perfectly; he brought his saber up horizontally to block, and Tharissas left saber slipped through his defences, leaving a deep groove in his the back of his armour, before spinning away again.  
Now, they were bladelocking, each struggling to overcome the other. Tharissa was strong for both her gender and age, but the Sith was twice as heavy and proportionally much stronger. It didn't take long before Tharissa was on the losing end of the bladelock, the joined sabers nearly touching her nose.  
As if to prove that he was winning, the Sith seemed to take a slight step backwards with his right foot, before shooting forward with it, kneeing Tharissa in the stomach. Only luck prevented her from dying, as his saber passed right above her head, slicing off parts of her hair. The smell of burnt hair filled the air, mixing with the ozone created by the sabers.

Coughing hard, desperately trying to regain her breath, Tharissa rolled sideways, then quickly pushed off from the ground, boosting herself with the Force to land in a combat stance a few meters away from him, catching the returning thrown saber in the same movement. Again, the Sith was measuring her, not taking advantage of her loss of breath. If he wanted, he could've pressed the advantage, most likely ending the fight quickly.  
However, he didn't want to do this; this Jedi was different. She was just a padawan, yet she had managed to stand up to his attacks, and had most of the time been on the offensive. Quite a unique specimen.

"So, how does it feel, to have a war-party of Sith breach your precious Temple? Killing your 'friends', your teachers, your fellow Jedi? Does it sting, to know your Order was this woefully unprepared? This would never have happened to Sith. If you had attacked us in a similar way, you wouldn't even have gotten down to the surface of the planet!"  
Darth Ag'ahanay didn't wait for a reply; she was apparently the strong, silent type. Instead, he charged forward again, utilizing a powerful underhand feint, then spinning around to the right, bringing his saber into a powerful slash towards Tharissas right arm.  
Tharissa, reacting slowly due to her still catching her breath, managed to try to block the feint, but almost fell to the real attack; she managed to lift her saber up to deflect the attack just in time, but it still seared a wound into her arm. She knew her right arm had lost some of its strength, and that she had to gain time.  
Time, was something the Sith had in abundance. The Temple defenders were faltering, and the war-droids and common soldiers that were arriving mowed down quite a number of Jedi and padawans. So instead of simply impaling the faltering Tharissa, as he should have done, he surged forward, using the force to pin her to a column, and his right hand to grip around her throat.  
"See, how pitifully few defenders there are left!" he said, pointing with his saber towards the dwindling number of defenders.  
"Look how we are slaughtering them!"  
And Tharissa looked; she saw, that the roughly 20 Sith had decimated the Jedi. But, they had fought back valiantly; a number of Sith corpses were strewn about.  
Suddenly, a particular duel caught her eye; Lee' was still holding his own against the small Sith.

Lee' played defensively, as was his style. He couldn't afford to give the Sith room to maneuver; he was far too dangerous when he had room to spin and jump around. Lee' was constantly trying to push him in between columns, near the wreck of the carrier, or near debris from the nearby collapsed columns and parts of the roof.  
There! The Sith showed an opening. Lee' surged forward with an overhand strike, trying to expose his opponents stomach for a kick. However, the Sith suddenly sidestepped, bringing the right half of his blade up to block. Continuing the step, the Sith spun around, dropping the block and letting the Jedi stumble forward, and finally, he killed, impaling him through his stomach with the left half of his blade. The overhand strike had been the Jedis final mistake.

Tharissa gasped involuntarily at the sight of her friend dying. Darth Ag'ahanay noticed, and grinned. "A friend of yours, perhaps? Can't you see how useleeehhhh…!" his last word was cut short by Tharissas foot impacting his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. How had she gotten that foot out of his grip? He must've lost focus. At any rate, her kick made him lose the rest, and Tharissa fell to the ground while he staggered backwards three steps.  
By now, Tharissa had regained her breath. She couldn't feel the pain from her wound either; there was no time for that. She had to win this fight, then help the battle… They could still win this! Reinforcements must be close now.  
Again Tharissa close the distance, opening with a flurry of blows. These were harder, stronger, than the previous flurry, and the Sith was hard pressed to block or dodge them all. Suddenly, Tharissa seemed to falter, seemed to notice a flash of pain from her arm. Ag'ahanay struck lightning quick, a vicious stab aimed for the Jedis heart.  
Tharissa saw it coming; she had set him up for this. She deftly parried the attacked, then countered with a brilliantly executed Makashi riposte, to which the Sith was unprepared. It struck home, searing a wound into the Siths right shoulder. They were now evenly wounded.

However, this just served to infuriate the Sith. He! Wounded by a mere Padawan! He struck out again with an overhand slash, completely ignoring the throbs of pain in his damaged shoulder. The girl brought her blades up horizontally to parry, eachblade angled with the tip inwards, and yet again they were bladelocked.  
"Again you ignore my offer! Filthy Jedi! You won't live to see the end of this battle!" the Sith hissed, putting his weight behind the bladelock, forcing it close to Tharissas face.  
Suddenly, he caught a gleam in Tharissas eyes. Was that a tear?  
He didn't get time to ponder about it. Without warning, Tharissa slid to the side, then viciously slammed the hilt of her right saber into the Siths lower jaw. The blow was amplified by the Force, it broke Ag'ahanays jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. She fell upon him with another flurry of attacks, but this time the Sith managed to block or parry them; breaking his jaw had only managed to send him into a murderous rage. He quickly regained the offensive; a feint there, a strike there. With a brutal two-handed blow, he managed to force Tharissas defenses aside with pure force, then stab at her. She dodged, and the Sith continued, converting the momentum into a spinning move, which brought his saber down from above, right at her unprotected body.  
Tharissa knew she couldn't dodge the attack. Everything seemed to go with slow motion. With almost limitless clarity, she saw the blade descend… then it hit her.  
The blade viciously cut through flesh and bone, searing anything in its way. It started at middle of her forehead, burning a groove from there to the top of her cheek. And explosion of pain erupted in Tharissas mind as she felt her right eye get hit, then rupture, being seared away with the heat of the lightsaber.  
As an almost reflexive action, she pushed herself away from the source of the pain, using the Force. She flew 15 meters backwards, sliding across the smooth marble floor when she hit it; the Force cushioning her fall. Only this move prevented the rest of her body from being cleaved in half, and she was painfully aware of this.

The Sith, smelling the scent of burnt flesh, stalked towards the fallen Jedi.  
"Not so tough NOW are we?" it asked, wanting to torture and kill and opponent slowly. He knew he had been ordered to kill, to take no prisoners, but surely a single girl would be okay?  
However, before he could further indulge himself in these murderous fantasies, he saw the girl rise from the floor, and settle into a new combat stance. He too, stopped, perplexed. He almost took a step backwards at the sight of her face; her right eye was gone, a bleeding hole in its place. A deep scar of burned flesh from halfway up her forehead to her cheek, cause by his saber. All of this was common; he knew Sith who had much more horrible wounds than this. No, what made him rethink his decision to take this one alive was the look of utter determination in her eyes. It looked like she didn't even notice the loss of her eye.

Suddenly, she charged. Jumping forward, she landed right infront of the Sith, falling into a crouch, slicing at his legs. He jumped, taking a backwards flip, landing only to be met with an onslaught of blows and strikes. He started falling back; he couldn't keep up with her, she was gaining the advantage. She was half blind, and she was still gaining the upper hand!

Trying to regain the offence, Darth Ag'ahanay suddenly dropped, then rolled to the Jedis right side, trying to take advantage of the loss of her eye. Shooting upwards, he struck, only to be parried and counter attacked. The blow seared a wound into his side, his armor only barely stopping it from slicing him in half.

As the Sith suddenly dropped and rolled, Tharissa knew what he tried to do. She would've done the same. She instantly brought her right saber down to block the expected strike, then spun on her right foot, sending her left saber at her enemies side. She could see him, even when he was standing in her blindzone. The Force saw for her, and she didn't need her eyes.  
The Sith faltered, almost falling with the force of the blow. Almost before he could get to his senses again, Tharissa was upon him, striking with a brutal combination of quick and powerful attacks. There was no way he could dodge, block or parry them all, and she quickly overwhelmed him.  
With a final strike, Tharissa batted his blade to the right, brought her left blade down to sever his arm, before spinning around and decapitating him with a beautiful Sai Cha.  
The battle was over. The corpse of the Sith still stood; he almost looked like he'd continue to attack.  
Then, it dropped. First to its knees, then forward. Tharissa twitched, ready to parry an attack that never came.

Then, the pain struck her.  
Her brain exploded with the sensations of her battered body; the destroyed eye, the rib that had broken in the fall, the seared arm, the countless smaller cuts and bruises, and the general hurt from having overexerted her body.  
She was at her limit.  
She fell.  
First to her knees, right in front of the Sith body.  
Then, to her side. Her one remaining eye faced the battle. The Jedi had lost. She closed her eye, and hoped that some had escaped the carnage.


End file.
